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I agree. I don't think we should change our names, but that we have a right to if we so wish.

I was only ever moderately teased about my surname, but not my first name But it is a paternal heritage, and one which I hold close to my own identity - so I would never change it for an arbitary reason.

Well, I don't think anyone in the world would mistake pronouncing my name: Usamah. The "h" is unpronounced.

What people do more often is mistaking the spelling: Usama, Osamah, Osama, Ussamah, Ossama, etc etc. However, since it's not an original English or Western name, it's pretty much perfect for anyone to write the way he or she likes, although the last few forms with double s "ss" really annoy me more than the others.

What I find funny though, is when poeple here or on other forums purposely write my nickname "simsim" as "Simsim" or more often as "SimSim"! I don't know what is the motive behind this especially the latter form "SimSim" but it always makes smile when I see it.

I like my first name, simple but sounds like a name of an antagonist woman in a film- Clarisse

Like Clarice Starling? Definitely not an antagonist, unless compared to the hardcore character of Dr. Hannibal Lecter.

A 9 year old girl over here won a court case this year to have her name changed from "Talulah Does The Hula From Hawaii".

I don't know, HAWK.

I think if people are willing to permanently tattoo moronic things onto themselves like this, this, or that... it's not much of a wonder that they'd see it fit to label their child for life with these utterly... retarded... names.

I remember hearing about the "Hula on Hawaii" story awhile back, and in the paper they also listed others. Someone named their child, "Bursted Condom". And there was others as... *argh*... as that too.

I wish I could whack some of these people with a brick!

Trying to fill the unforgiving minute
with sixty seconds' worth of distance run.

Have any of you experienced difficulties with your names? Do you like your name? Have you thought about changing it?

Haven't really experienced difficulties. However I do a lot of telephone work these days and people often call me Ryan, Brian, John, Brad, and Mike when I answer the phone. One time they kept calling me Carlos. This happens even though I clearly state my name is Wayne.

My name is okay. Wouldn't really consider changing it. First I don't have a problem with it and second it would be an insult to my parents. Especially my father, which is who I was named after.

First I don't have a problem with it and second it would be an insult to my parents.

Interesting point...

I was born Sarah Ann Hawk. I always hated the Ann bit. I wasn't named for anyone, my parents just made it up. When I got married, I didn't want to lose my family name, it is part of who I am, but I also like the idea of taking my husband's name, to create a new family identity for our children.

I decided to change my middle name by deed poll from Ann to Hawk. I wasn't sure how my parents would feel about it. Turns out (thank goodness) that they were right on board with the idea and weren't in the slightest bit insulted. (I accept that not everyone's parents would feel that way.)

We are giving both our children the middle name Hawk, as is my sister for her children.

I don't expect my children to carry on the tradition though. It's not intended to become a family name.

Germans ironically spell and pronounce my name correctly. Everyone else does it wrongly. My name is Maleika (female name derived from swahili) but most people pronounce it as Malika, Marieke, Malieka and all sorts of variations when it should be Mah-lye-kuh.

I'm okay with my name, by and large. Never thought of chaning it. If it's too complicated for people, I'll tell them to call me Esther, which is my middle name.

I was born Sarah Ann Hawk. I always hated the Ann bit. I wasn't named for anyone, my parents just made it up. When I got married, I didn't want to lose my family name, it is part of who I am, but I also like the idea of taking my husband's name, to create a new family identity for our children.

I decided to change my middle name by deed poll from Ann to Hawk. I wasn't sure how my parents would feel about it. Turns out (thank goodness) that they were right on board with the idea and weren't in the slightest bit insulted. (I accept that not everyone's parents would feel that way.)

I don't think my parents would have a problem with something like this either. Its the given name that I think they would have a problem with. However my parents didn't name me something weird like a some parents from the 60s did.

My brother went to school with a friend with the last name of Bunn. The friend always swore he was going to name his daughters Honey and Cherri. I don't know if he went through with it but I do hope his wife was smart enough to slap some sense into the boy.

I understand you... We have the same situation in our name. My real name is Dirk Benedict. When I was in elementary and high school, my name is always misspelled! such as Dick. benedick, Dirt. Damn! And because my name is hard to pronounce, my teacher commonly called me as Dick, Dereck. So I decided to use my second name which is Benedict until i graduated in High school.

I get Janice a lot, mostly friends trying to **** me off because they know I don't like it

Originally Posted by php_daemon

I always thought Jan is short for January

I like January, maybe I should change it?

Originally Posted by HAWK

Interesting point...

I was born Sarah Ann Hawk. I always hated the Ann bit. I wasn't named for anyone, my parents just made it up. When I got married, I didn't want to lose my family name, it is part of who I am, but I also like the idea of taking my husband's name, to create a new family identity for our children.

I decided to change my middle name by deed poll from Ann to Hawk. I wasn't sure how my parents would feel about it. Turns out (thank goodness) that they were right on board with the idea and weren't in the slightest bit insulted. (I accept that not everyone's parents would feel that way.)

We are giving both our children the middle name Hawk, as is my sister for her children.

I don't expect my children to carry on the tradition though. It's not intended to become a family name.

I think that's a good idea, especially as Hawk is a cool name to have.

There seems to be a bit of a trend at the moment of using the maiden name as the children's middle names, I have a couple of friends that have done it. Its a bit more meaningful that pulling a name out of the hat for the sake of having a middle name. Naming children is not as easy as it sounds!

A 9 year old girl over here won a court case this year to have her name changed from "Talulah Does The Hula From Hawaii".

Wow, some parents. They must have eaten some funny mushrooms

Originally Posted by Shaun(OfTheDead)

I wish I could whack some of these people with a brick!

Two bricks would be better

Originally Posted by Hierophant

Haven't really experienced difficulties. However I do a lot of telephone work these days and people often call me Ryan, Brian, John, Brad, and Mike when I answer the phone. One time they kept calling me Carlos. This happens even though I clearly state my name is Wayne.

Wayne is a good manly name

Originally Posted by HAWK

We are giving both our children the middle name Hawk, as is my sister for her children.

I like it. Good strong name. To the point.

Originally Posted by kohoutek

My name is Maleika

That is what my name Ulrike gets butchered to sometimes here in the US. I like your name Maleika

Originally Posted by Hierophant

My brother went to school with a friend with the last name of Bunn. The friend always swore he was going to name his daughters Honey and Cherri.

Hilarious

Originally Posted by Dirky47

So I decided to use my second name which is Benedict until i graduated in High school.

I understand you... We have the same situation in our name. My real name is Dirk Benedict. When I was in elementary and high school, my name is always misspelled! such as Dick. benedick, Dirt. Damn! And because my name is hard to pronounce, my teacher commonly called me as Dick, Dereck. So I decided to use my second name which is Benedict until i graduated in High school.

I think a lot of people consider changing their name when they hit their pre-teens and really start developing their independence, I know I did. I think I wanted to be called Veronica or Stephanie or something distinctly female. That was a short lived phase for me though.

Having a unisex name posed some challenges during school and I still get mail addressed to 'Mr.' once in a while but it isn't a big deal. I like the simplicity of my name now, especially since I have a moderately challenging last name; it's a good balance.

I think what I like best about my name though is that both my first and middle names are shortened versions of the names of my Godmother and maternal grandmother. It is a constant reminder of the thought and love that my parents put into making that choice; wouldn't change that for the world.

Oh yes, the unisex names. I find that fascinating and confusing to no end. Such thing is impossible here, you see, due to complexity of our language and I never in my life encountered with this phenomena, until I learned about other cultures. That still leads to awkward situations now and then.